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Rainbow Six Siege Now Bans Players for Using Slurs in Chat

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is now banning players for using slurs in chat. Game developer Ubisoft announced earlier this year their plans to tackle toxicity within the game, promising changes to come. True to their word, Ubisoft is giving an automatic instant ban to any player who uses hate speech.

Rainbow Six Siege was released in 2015 to mostly positive reviews, despite the noticeable bugs and lack of content. After an initial struggle to gain a following, the team-based tactical shooter has since taken off in popularity. But as its numbers grew, so did the amount of slurs and offensive language in the in-game chat. Back in April, Ubisoft stated there would soon be more chat monitoring, the ability to mute text chat, and their intention to create a chat filter. The developer now looks to have gone in a different direction though, opting instead to completely remove offending players instead of merely censoring words.

According to PC Gamer, Ubisoft has enacted a new set of rules regarding the use of racist or homophobic language. For a first offense, players will find themselves kicked off the game for 27 minutes. A second and third offense will result in two-hour bans. Any further offenses will lead to an investigation into the player’s account, and could result in a permanent ban. When some users complained about finding themselves censored, and said the developer should focus on “real issues,” Ubisoft replied, “Fighting against toxicity and cleaning up the Siege environment is a very real and important issue.”

Response to the new rules has been mixed, with some commending Ubisoft for taking the fight against hate speech seriously, while others have been venting their frustration about the consequences for using slurs. A further subset of players finds the bans amusing, and claims to be goading opponents into committing bannable offences and being kicked off mid-game. If Rainbow Six Siege’s Twitter account is anything to go by, the company isn’t losing any sleep over the detractors’ comments. After being cursed out for the new instant ban policy, Rainbow Six Siege responded with a resounding, “Good.”

Hate speech has long-been a pervasive issue throughout the gaming community, leaving developers struggling to decide where to draw the line. Ubisoft, who has long claimed to believe that no player’s words should detract from someone else’s gaming experience, is now backing up their words with action. Taking any definitive stance against slurs comes with an inherent risk of losing some players, but should also spare Rainbow Six Siege from being overrun by toxic commentary that would prove more detrimental to the game’s growth in the long run.